On The Fourth Night
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Gia has strong, vivid, and terrifying nightmares.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made._

_Author's Note: This is not where the Megaforce series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:_

_**No To Date Nights - The Party Night - Project Partners - Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks - **__**Prom Night**__ - __**A Trip To Remember - First Meetings - Something She Loves – Protective Morans – Samurai In Harwood County – Rainy Days – Luck Had Nothing To Do With It – Ranger Support – Parents and Children – Hero Without The Spandex – Emma's Night – Emma's Mother – Bait And Switch – After Death – A Stormy Day – A Date For Tensou – A Mother's Advice – Mending Fences – Executioner Named Revenge –Those Three Words **_

Gia woke up in her bed in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She sat up and put her head in her hands as she tried to calm herself down. These nightmares had to stop. Her life was fine.

First, they had been nightmares of Cliff coming back. From the day he left her for college until fairly recently, Gia had had nightmares of his return. She had been scared, terrified even, that he would come back and there would be no one to help her escape him. She would be trapped with him, forced to put up with his definition of love for as long as he let her live. Fortunately, those nightmares weren't as common. They still happened, and they likely always would, but they were getting better.

Unfortunately, they were being replaced by more nightmares. Her fear of falling back into Cliff's hands was making room for nightmares of her father. She hadn't witnessed his death, but that didn't stop her mind from coming up with hundreds of different ways for him to die. She saw it, over and over, almost every night since he had been killed. Some nights, they had been so bad she had to crawl into bed with Emma, or go downstairs and sleep with her mother.

But those nightmares were starting to die away as well, only to be replaced with more. This night, a nightmare of Jake turning into a cold, emotionless robot like Robo-Knight haunted her. What was worse was that without his feelings for her, Jake was just as cruel as Cliff. Something in Tensou's chips malfunctioned, which caused his cold, careless, violent streak.

Deciding she wouldn't sleep after that, Gia got out of bed and tip-toed downstairs. Her mother no longer slept in the living room. After spending a couple of nights with Gia in her own bed, Mrs. Moran felt it was time she get used to sleeping in the master bedroom by herself. Mrs. Goodall had also moved into her own apartment, so the living room was clear. Gia sat on the couch and wrapped a blanket around herself. She pulled her knees into her chest, hugged them tight, and the cried herself to sleep.

Emma, who had heard Gia getting out of bed, sat at the foot of the stairs. This wasn't Gia's first nightmare of Jake. This was the third night Gia had gotten out of bed and cried herself to sleep. The first night, Emma tried to reassure her that nothing would go wrong with Jake. The second night, she just held her. This night, she knew what to do. Once the sobbing quieted, Emma lay the sleeping Gia down on the couch and tucked the blanket in around her. Then she went upstairs.

-Megaforce-

Gia woke up in a cold sweat again the following night. But now it was getting old, but she couldn't shake the feelings of fear and panic. Her heart was racing, she was breathing heavily and she felt nauseous. Tonight, she felt nauseous.

"Hey, Gia."

She jumped slightly and turned to the voice of the man in her room. Even in the dark she could see it was Jake. She was hesitant for a moment after her dream but then she fell into his arms.

"What… what are you doing here?"

"I can't stop by in the middle of the night to comfort my girlfriend?" Jake asked. Gia pulled away from him.

"How did you…?"

"Emma's a good friend," Jake said. He lay down beside Gia in the bed and wrapped his arms around her. "She told me about your nightmares too."

"I know it's silly. Tensou wouldn't have given you anything he thought was dangerous…"

"I'm a little scared too," Jake shrugged his shoulder. "I'm scared something's going to happen and I'll hurt the others."

"The others?"

"Hey, I may be Robo-Brain," Jake chuckled, "but my real brain is still there. It's still working, even if it's minimally."

"What's different?" Gia laughed.

Jake squeezed her gently, "I love you, Gia. Nothing, not even a computer brain will ever convince me to hurt you. I'm not turning into a monster."

Gia nestled into her boyfriend, "I can't help it, Jake. I know you're different. It's just… you never know."

"I know."

"How, Jake? Your brain is half a computer. If something goes wrong…"

"Nothing's going wrong."

"You don't know. What if something happens? What if this doesn't work? What if Vrak finds out? Or the mutants, or…"

"Let them," Jake sat up and looked down at Gia. "I don't care if they find out. I don't care what they do to me. Nothing's going to convince me to hurt you."

"I care what they do to you. Jake, they could hurt you. You could have no choice…"

"There's always a choice Gia. You're safe now. That dream is never coming true."

"It feels so real, Jake," Gia whispered. She closed her eyes to try and hold back her tears. Suddenly, she felt Jake's weight on top of her as he straddled her on the bed. He grabbed her wrists and pressed them down into the bed on either side of her head.

"I know you hate this," Jake told her as he remembered the last time they had been caught in this position. In had been just after they started dating. They had been annoying each other. It was all just out of fun until Jake fell on top of Gia and pinned her down. She screamed, hit him, and swore at him until Emma could calm her down and she knew she was safe. She later explained Cliff would hold her down like that all the time when he wasn't happy with her. She never talked about what came after that, but Jake knew.

This time, Gia didn't scream or hit or swear. She looked up at Jake as if wondering why he was on top of her. Jake gave her a little smile, "Well, that's new. You trust me."

"It's the chip I don't trust," Gia nodded. "But I know it's you. I know you won't hurt me."

"The chip doesn't control me. It helps me control myself. It lets me be me."

"That's what scares me, Jake. What if something happens and you're not you."

"Not me as in I turn into some monster who doesn't care about who he hurts? Some monster, who, when you're at your most vulnerable, will take advantage of you in any way he can so he gets what he wants? Like how you're vulnerable now?"

Gia nodded her head, "I know it's you, Jake. I'm not scared."

"Did you also know the chip doesn't change the way I feel about you? Gia, Tensou didn't have to fix the part of my brain that makes me me. He didn't have to program me so I knew who my friends were, who my teammates were, or who I loved. The reason I'm not like Robo-Knight is because I'm still Jake. The only reason I'm here with you now, instead of still up in the command center trying to wiggle my fingers is because I love you. You can reprogram the chips in my brain all you want, but no matter what you do to them, I will always love you. You're safe, I promise."

"Even if they malfunction? Even if you get hurt and something goes wrong…"

"Nothing can make me hurt you."

Gia nodded her head. Jake finally let go of her wrists and wiped away her tears. He lowered himself back into the bed and took her in his arms. "Nothing's going to happen to me."

"I can't lose you, Jake," Gia hid her face in his chest. "I'm scared."

"I'm not going anywhere," Jake kissed the top of her head. "How can I prove it to you? This is real. This isn't going away. I'm not changing, and you're never going to lose me."

"Hold me."

"What?"

"Just… hold me."

"I am."

"Then don't let go," Gia whispered. Jake nodded his head and he kept his arms wrapped around Gia eve after she fell asleep. Her head rested lightly on his chest, rising and falling slowly as he breathed. He watched her until the sun came up and there was a knock on the door. Emma poked her head inside the room.

"Mrs. Moran made waffles," she whispered. "Are you coming down?"

"Gia's sleeping," Jake shook his head. "We'll be down later."

"They'll get cold."

"A waffle's a waffle."

"Your call," Emma slowly closed the door. Jake looked down at Gia and kissed the top of her head and pulled her in a little closer. Gia shifted as she was moved and smiled as she continued to lay contently with Jake. She had no nightmares in his arms.


End file.
